A Native American pueblo at the edge of New Mexico’s largest city added 140 square miles of its historic homelands to its jurisdiction Friday under a deal the U.S. Interior Department says represents the single largest transfer of land back to a tribe’s control. Under the agreement, the Pueblo of Isleta south of Albuquerque will place a 90,000-acre ranch into federal trust — a move that transfers governmental oversight of the land back to the tribe.

After blowing and throwing his bones, traditional healer Solly Mathebula (38) of Mamelodi East Extension 4 said he is troubled at what 2016 has in store for the people of Mamelodi. He predicted that this would be a tough year, not only for residents of Mamelodi, but for the whole country. The famous traditional healer known as Baba Mahlasela recently made headlines for training young white sangoma Kyle Todd.

Over the last decade, the Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca has swept through the West, becoming famous for affecting powerful (and often lasting) change in people who take it. Eager Western seekers have descended on the Amazon and the high jungle of the Andes, flooding towns like Iquitos and Pucallpa with both ayahuasca tourists and shamans who serve them — along with scam artists and shady practices.

Tucked away in the south of Siberia, among mountains, steppes and taiga, live the Khakas people, who have preserved the ancient traditions of shamanism. To this day, they perform rituals to thank the spirits and worship their ancestors at huge burial mounds. RBTH managed to arrange a visit to one of the most powerful Khakas shamans.

Ten years ago, Mark Pischea, then a 42-year-old political consultant and father of five from Williamston, Michigan, was rushed to the hospital with severe stomach pain. Pischea was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, a chronic autoimmune condition that can cause extreme abdominal discomfort, weight loss, fatigue and fevers. For the next decade of his life, the formerly healthy husband and father lived in a constant cycle of flare-ups, surgery and recovery.